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Obiní Batá
"Obiní Batá is Cuba's female Afro Cuban folkloric group, famous for
playing the bata drums. Historically, women have been banned from playing
the bata. The group was founded in 1993, making it the first ever of it's
kind. The bata drum in Cuba originated as an instrument that was used by
African slaves. The Obiní Batá proudly break the gender norms and
challenge the notions of the role of women in Yoruba religion." |
Obiní Batá
of Cuba 4/18/2018 Vimeo: By Amberly Alene Ellis. "Obiní Batá is Cuba's
female Afro Cuban folkloric group, famous for playing the bata drums.
Historically, women have been banned from playing the bata. The group was
founded in 1993, making it the first ever of it's kind. The bata drum in Cuba
originated as an instrument that was used by African slaves. The Obiní Batá
proudly break the gender norms and challenge the notions of the role of women in
Yoruba religion."
Women drummers break barriers in Cuba percussion 6/11/2014 South Florida
Times: "Instructors were warned that if they taught women, it could cost them a
place in a traveling tour or a major performance. Over the years, doors slowly
began opening for female drummers – just as women gradually took on greater
roles in politics, academics and other areas of Cuban society. Today, experts
say, the island is seeing a boom in women percussionists as the generation that
first started playing in the 1990s comes into its own and inspires younger
talent to follow. “I threw myself into the unknown,” said Eva Despaigne, the
60-year-old director of Obini Bata, Cuba’s first all-female bata orchestra,
which takes its name from the Yoruban word for woman. “I have suffered many
headaches.”"
Mastering drums being a woman: Obiní Batá 3/25/2014 On Cuba: "A group of
women master the Iyá, the Itótele and Okónkolo-names given to each of the bata
drums. Furthermore they sing, dance and play the claves and chequeré deftly as
wise connoisseurs of our folk traditions. It is Obiní Batá. This ensemble looks
at the Afro-Cuban syncretism from culture and has been for two decades on the
scene. It emerged in 1993 within the National Folk Ensemble. Eva Despaigne,
their leader, says it is nothing new that women are interested in this kind of
aesthetic proposal; they are faithful to the legacy of Rumba Morena and other
women’s groups who cultivate the rumba."
Obini Bata: All–Women Afro–Cuban music group 9/1/2011 Cuba
Absolutely: "When Obini Bata was founded in June of 1993, it was the first
all-female group featuring Bata drumming. Eva Despainge Trujillo, Artistic
Director, left the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba (the National Folkloric
Company of Cuba—until today a reference point in Cuban dance and culture) to
found Obini Bata. She explained that chauvinistic attitudes have followed the
group throughout its history. Unfortunately, some Cubans—both men and women—have
not been able to separate the group’s use of the Bata drums for an artistic
purpose as opposed to a religious one. As Eva stated, “we put the religious
world on stage as art.”
www.womex.com/virtual/comunacuba_sl/obini_bata
www.ecured.cu/Obin%C3%AD_Bat%C3%A1
Obiní Batá celebrate their African origin
When: Fridays at 8:30 p.m.
Venue: Asociación Yoruba de Cuba
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